29 | 30
Nov 2025
Traditional Services
Advent – A Season of Waiting and Faithful Anticipation
Advent (from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival”) is the four-week season of preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. Advent also begins the church’s new liturgical year. A good celebration requires proper preparation for us to fully enjoy it. During December, however, we mostly confuse helpful readiness for the hustle of Christmas shopping, parties, and preparations. The Advent season, more reflective in nature, can feel out of sync with all this noise and busyness.
John the Baptist is the anti-Santa needed for our day. Trade the jolly laugh for an in-your-face intensity, the twinkle in the eye for a wildness about to interrupt your life, commanding our attention but always redirecting it towards Jesus. “Prepare the way for the Lord” is the Advent call to get ready for the coming Messiah.
But how do you prepare for a surprise? More than just remembering Christ’s first arrival, Advent hopes for Christ’s second coming. Advent is a season of expectant waiting, tapping into the sense we have that all is not well, the longing for the world to be made right again. It is a season for restless hearts and people weary of a broken world who want, with all our being, to know there’s more than this.
Advent cultivates in us a discerning eye, helping us to spot the sin that clutters our lives and notice all the ways we need to be saved. By helping us to hope intensely for restoration, to feel our own need to be saved, Advent prepares us for genuine Christmas joy and faith in the One who saves us from our sin, Jesus.
From Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year, p23.
Dates of Advent
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.
Candle Lighting
During the four Sundays in Advent, we progressively light the Advent wreath to symbolize our journey through Advent as we await in anticipation for the Lord’s coming.
| First Sunday | : Hope |
| Second Sunday | : Peace |
| Third Sunday | : Joy |
| Fourth Sunday | : Love |
Colour for Advent
Purple is the primary colour of Advent symbolizing royalty. Purple is also the colour for Lent symbolizing penitence, pointing to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and death.
WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH
TRADITIONAL SERVICES
Wesley Sanctuary 7.30am | 9.30am (Live-streamed) | 11.30am | 5.00pm
30 November 2025 | FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT
Trinity Theological College Weekend
Liturgical Colour: Purple
Lectionary (Year A): Isaiah 2:1–5, Psalm 122,
Romans 13:11–14, Matthew 24:36–44
Songs: All Earth is Waiting (UMH 210)
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (UMH 196)
Dona Nobis Pacem (UMH 376)
Resurrection Hymn
For the Healing of the Nations (UMH 428)
Sermon: Left Behind (Isaiah 2:1–5; Matthew 24:36–44)
I. GATHERING
We gather in the Lord’s name weekly to be renewed in our hearts and minds. Our worship of God is a response to his revelation as he reveals his truth to us through Scripture, sermon, prayers and songs
PREPARATION PRAYER
In Christ, God, you have made your home on earth.
Christ dwells among us and is one with us.
Highest of all creation, he lives among the least.
He journeys with the rejected and welcomes the weary.
All: We gather, alive to the Word of God through songs and Scripture, ready to listen and respond with heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Amen.
MEDITATION VERSE AND REFLECTION QUESTION
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man
will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Matthew 24:44
What does it mean for you to stay alert, or awake, or keep watch
in your day-to-day as we wait for the return of Jesus?
What could you remove from or add to your life that would help you “be ready” for the Lord?
PRELUDE
GREETING
| L: | May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. |
| P: | And also with you. |
CALL TO CONFESSION Romans 13:12–14
L: The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.
So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime,
not in carousing and drunkenness,
not in sexual immorality and debauchery,
not in dissension and jealousy.
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
PRAYER TO CONFESSION
All: Holy One,
you call us to wake from sleep,
to become aware to our surroundings.
The dawn of a new time of preparation is upon us.
Forgive us when sleepiness takes its toll,
when our discussions become battles,
when our judgement and self-judgement outweigh our faith.
Let us put on the light of Christ
and live as you have called us
in respect, in mutual dialogue, and in healthy living.
Help us so that everything we do reflects Christ’s light.
Amen.
CANDLE LIGHTING LITURGY
L: The prophet Isaiah calls to us from the past to imagine the future when God’s reign will be fully realized and recognized throughout creation.
When that time comes,
God “will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4).
All: Today, we choose to live in hope, believing that the time of God’s reign has come and is coming among us.
L: We light this candle of hope as a sign of our promise to follow the Light as we answer
God’s call to transform our hope into reality today and in the days to come.
CALL TO WORSHIP *by Dr. Lisa Hancock, 2025
Beloved, once again,
we embark on the Advent path that points us to the coming of Jesus.
We journey together toward the day that all the earth awaits.
We remember the signs and the times
that heralded the arrival of the baby Jesus, God Incarnate.
We journey together toward the day that all the earth awaits.
We tell the stories once again as we learn how to discern the signs and the times,
watching for glimpses of God’s here-and-not-yet kingdom among us.
We journey together toward the day that all the earth awaits.
Come, let us worship God who shines a light to guide us
on the path to peace and flourishing for all creation.
Come, let us worship as we journey together
toward the day that all the earth awaits.
All: Lord Jesus, we wait and look forward to your return!
OPENING HYMN *
All Earth is WaitingUMH 210
GOSPEL READINGMatthew 24:36–44
PRAYER HYMN
Come, Thou Long-Expected JesusUMH 196
SILENT PRAYER
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
All: Dear God, source of all light,
by your Word give light to our lives. Amen.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
II. SERMON
| Sermon Title | Left Behind |
| Scripture Text | Isaiah 2:1–5; Matthew 24:36–44 |
| Speaker | Rev Dr Andrew Peh |
Rev Dr Andrew Peh is a lecturer in mission and world religions at Trinity Theological College (TTC). He is an alumnus of TTC as well as Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore Kentucky, USA. He is ordained as a diaconal minister in the Chinese Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Singapore and is attached to Bukit Panjang Methodist Church. His research interests are in colonial missions history of Southeast Asia (Singapore) and the missions history of East Asia (particularly Japanese Christianity).
III. WE RESPOND IN PRAYER, SHARING AND GIVING
We respond to God’s Word through (a) praying for the church and the world, (b) sharing of God’s peace with one another (2 Cor 13:11, Gal 5:13) after having received the peace of Christ, and after made peace with one another, (c) offer to God our tithes and gifts (Matt 5:24), as a response to Christ’s sacrificial offering (Eph 5:2, 1 Pet 2:5).
PRAYER
Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer (ASAS)
PEACE
Welcome
Sharing of God’s Peace *
Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace)UMH 376
Family News
GIVING
Offertory Prayer
| 7.30am |
Child of Promise |
Dawnbreakers |
| 9.30am |
Waiting! |
Sunbeams Children’s Choir |
| 11.30am and 5.00pm |
Resurrection Hymn |
Congregation |
Doxology *
Advent Doxology
Tune: Old 100th
Praise God for gifts of hope and peace
Praise God for gifts of joy and love
Praise God for sending Christ to dwell
On earth for us – Emmanuel.
Amen.
IV. SENDING FORTH
Having encountered God through worship, we are to (a) serve one another through acts of service, (b) participate in the programs of the church to continue growing in our Christian discipleship, and (c) to go forth into the world as Christ’s hands and feet in the ministry of reconciliation.
CLOSING HYMN *
For the Healing of the NationsUMH 428
BENEDICTION *
POSTLUDE
Prayer Ministry at the Altar
If you need someone to pray with you, please proceed to the inner rails of the altar area. If you wish to pray alone, please use the outer rails.
* Congregation may stand.
| Visit https://wesleymc.org/wm/resources for the newer songs covered this year. |
Wesley Methodist Church
5 Fort Canning Road
Singapore 179493
Singapore
5 Fort Canning Road
Singapore 179493
Singapore
